The invention relates to a gear pump for the dosed conveyance of pigmented lacquers or paints.
A gear pump according to this class is known from EP 1 164 293 A2.
The known gear pump comprises two toothed wheels meshing in one another which are mounted within a pump housing in such a manner that they can rotate. Therein, one of the toothed wheels is held on the circumferential face of a drive shaft which is mounted at several bearing points within the pump housing. A coupling section of the drive shaft projects out of the pump housing in order to connect to a drive. Within the pump housing a rinsing duct system is formed whereby rinsing of the gear pump with a rinsing agent is possible. With this, the pigment remnants collected within the pump housing can be quickly and easily rinsed out during a change-over of paints.
The known gear pump is used in paint atomization devices for the painting of components, for example, of parts of motor vehicles. In order to treat complex components within a painting device, it is a known practice to use painting robots which hold an atomizing device on a robot arm.
A painting robot of this type is, for example, known from EP 1 447 183 A1. Here the painting nozzle devices held on a robot arm must be formed to be as compact as possible. In addition to this, constantly changing acceleration forces act on the device due to the motion of the robot arm. In order to keep the expenditure in lines as low as possible, it is customary to combine painting pumps directly with an atomization unit in order to obtain one structural unit in a robot arm. The known gear pump is, however, essentially designed for a stationary installation space in which no significant loads from the environment act on the gear pump.
It is an objective of the invention to provide a gear pump of the type described above which is suitable in particular for the dosed conveyance of pigmented lacquers or paints in a painting robot.
A further object of the invention lies in providing a gear pump which also conveys pigmented lacquers or paints at high operating pressures.